Scorpio Hardware Details Revealed

Digital Foundry have lifted the lid on the latest Xbox Console, due out at the end of the year.

Microsoft’s latest device is designed primarily for those who want to play games in 4K with 60 frames per second, but also promised the chance of those on standard 1080p TVs to play more detailed versions of their games.

The CPU uses Eight custom x86 2.3GHz cores, that’s the same number of cores as the Xbox One and PS4 Pro but, importantly, with a faster clock speed. It’s not Ryzen but it’s certainly far more advanced than the original Jaguar chip found in the Xbox One, PS4 and PS4 Pro.

The GPU is more impressive. It may only have 4 more compute units than the PS4 Pro (40 in all) but they run at a pretty impressive 1172MHz. This is significant in that it can bring the Scorpio up to RX480 levels and drives the console to its 4K 60fps goal.

Xbox have finally used DDR5 RAM, as well, but they’ve bumped it up to 12GB at 326GB/S as well, that seems like more than enough for current games and looks like more of a forward planning move. Most games will not really utilise 12GB at this stage but it’s there if developers want to use it.

Finally, the 4K UHD Blu-ray drive that made its debut on the Xbox One S also makes an appearance as another one-up on the PS4 Pro, which only sports a standard Bluray.

But it’s not so much all of these parts individually which make the Scorpio such an attractive idea, but how they work together. Digital Foundry reported on the impressive results of Forza Horizon 3 running on a slightly upgraded build from the Xbox One version, providing the game with 4K visuals, HDR and 60fps but only using 60% of the resources. With 40% to spare, there are plenty of further enhancements that could be implimented here.

Microsoft’s promise seems to have been met, then, despite Ryzen not being present here. This really is a device that can cope with 4K and 60fps, at least for the current crop of games, as well as providing something tantalising for those who still own a 1080p TV.

We look forward to a further reveal before E3 where the all-important price and, of course, the final name of the console are revealed.